Update on Federal, Maine and New Hampshire Tax Due Dates

Update on Federal, Maine and New Hampshire Tax Due Dates

Overview

On March 13th, the President issued an emergency declaration in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. In response, the IRS issued Notice 2020-18, which extended the federal tax filing deadline for income tax returns that would normally be April 15th to July 15th. Maine followed suit on March 26th when Governor Mills announced that the state will extend its income tax deadline. On March 31st, the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration announced that Granite State taxpayers would receive an extension to file for Business Tax (Business Profits Tax and Business Enterprise Tax) and Interest and Dividends Tax if the tax owing was paid on or before April 15th.

Updates

These federal and state extensions also applied to income tax first quarter estimated tax payments due on April 15, 2020. Nevertheless, these extensions did not initially apply to second quarter estimated tax payments, which could have resulted in an interesting situation where 2nd quarter estimated tax payments were due on June 15th, a month before 1st quarter payments were due on July 15th. However, on April 6th, the IRS issued notice 2020-23, which expanded the July 15th deadline to include all federal income tax estimated tax payments due after April 1st and before July 15th. Maine has again followed the IRS’s lead and extended the deadline for Maine 2nd quarter income tax estimates to July 15th, while New Hampshire has not yet announced any additional tax relief measures since the March 31st announcement mentioned above.

Bottom Line

While this is good news for taxpayers who require extra time to file and pay their 2019 income taxes and pay their 2020 1st and 2nd quarter estimated tax payments, taxpayers should keep in mind that July 15th could become a very expensive deadline because estimated tax payments for two quarters and the 2019 tax obligation are due on the same date. It is important for taxpayers to plan ahead, and in some cases, it might be advisable for taxpayers to stagger their payments and pay early to avoid paying their 2019 tax obligation, their 2020 1st quarter estimated tax, and their 2020 2nd quarter estimated tax on the same day.